Kure Beach: Day 2, Pt. 2

The convenient location of the cottage made coming and going to the beach easy. The afternoon brought on more of the same from the morning. Beach. Sandcastles. Waves. The temperature was warmer in the afternoon (most days reached 84-85 degrees) and the surf was more calm. The colors of the beach in the afternoon were so much brighter to, as opposed to the muted colors in the mornings. In the morning we would set up high on the shore because of the violent waves. In the afternoon, much of the shore that was covered in the mornings with surf, was free to explore for shells. 

Charly loved to let the waves come as close to her toes as possible, then turn in a flash and run away. The hilarious part though... as she turned to run, her right arm would swing out in a pinwheel motion. The picture below kind of shows this.

The picture above shows how she sometimes liked to wait and jump into the waves at the last second instead.

Sandcastles were a bit easier to build in the afternoon, because of the calm waves. We would try and build them fast, close to the shoreline, and see how many we could build. I think the most we built before the waves washed over them (or before Hayes smashed them) was 30. This made Charly feel bad so Kelli or I would try and entertain Hayes some other way. Charly takes her sandcastle building pretty seriously when she's on the beach.

After a few hours in the afternoon sun, we walked back to the cottage and got ready for dinner in Kure Beach. Kure Beach is only a town of 2,000 people, so there aren't many restaurant options in town. The options that are there however, are all apparently good so choosing one that night was tricky. The restaurants in town are also all located in the same block near the Kure Beach Fishing Pier. 

We decided to eat at Freddie's Restaurante, one of the most popular restaurants on all of Pleasure Island (what the locals call the much larger Carolina Beach and Kure Beach). There was a 45 minute wait for a table, so we put our name in and walked down to the beach to explore the pier.

The pier was impressive and picturesque. Especially at dusk. It was very calm and peaceful. The kids played in the sand, we snapped some pictures, and Hayes fell in the water again. Before we had a chance to walk the pier, our buzzer made a noise and informed us that a table was ready. Our 45 minute wait turned into only a 20 minute wait.

Freddie's was great Italian eating, but pricey! It was kind of a beachy, dive, family-run restaurant. The service was great. The Yuengling beer was delicious! Charly loved her spaghetti and Hayes had difficulty sitting still. Not even the iPad would entertain him. He wanted to see some "fish!" So we paid our bill and went back to the pier before the sun completely disappeared for the night.